Pakistan is the 24th largest economy in the world and 42nd largest gross domestic product. It has a population of over 207 million and over 36 per cent of its economy is informal. The informal sector accounts for 85 per cent of the population. According to the UN HDR Reports 2020, Pakistan’s HDI value for 2019 is 0.557— which put the country in the medium human development category—positioning it at 154 out of 189 countries and territories. Pakistan has achieved some macroeconomic stability over the past three years, and the fiscal deficit has shrunk from 8% to below 5%. Gender disparities, however, persist in education, health and all economic sectors. According to the World Bank, Pakistan has one of the lowest female labour force participation rates in the region.
According to the World Economic Forum’s Gender Equality Ranking, Pakistan has a Gender Inequality Index of 0.556 ranking it 153 out of 158 countries in the 2020. Gender disparities are evident across political, social and economic spheres. In Pakistan, 20 per cent of parliamentary seats are held by women and 26.5 per cent of adult women have reached at least secondary level of education compared to 46.1 per cent of male counterparts. For every 100,000 live births, 186 women die from pregnancy related causes, placing Pakistan in the bottom 25 per cent of the world’s countries in terms of maternal mortality rates. The lack of parity for a good education is hitting Pakistani girls the hardest. There has been a persistent gap of 23 per cent of literacy rates as put forth by the government of Pakistan in their economic surveys. The lack of education affects skills training. Only 11 per cent of women receive any technical or vocational training and are often marginalised in terms of the training offered to them. There is a need to link skill training to market demand. On a more positive note, there is an increase in the number of young women between the age of 15-24 who are obtaining higher education and entering the professional category. Female participation in the labour market is 24.3 per cent compared to 82.2 for men. Less than 30 per cent of all women aged 15-64 are in the labour force. Primarily, the bulk of working women are employed in the informal sector. Over 73 per cent of women work in informal agricultural work. The UN’s Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) Number 5 is to ‘achieve gender equality and empower all women and girls. In order to achieve these goals, the Government needs to develop gender neutral policies and accelerate the growth of women by providing mediums for their economic empowerment and financial independence.